How to Save a Dying Village | Paani Fdn. India #1

Permaculture instructor Andrew Millison journeys to India to film the epic work of the Paani Foundation’s Water Cup Competition and Farmer's Cup Competition. We tour the village of Pimpri Jalsen, in Maharashtra, who competed in the 2019 competition to install the most amount of water harvesting structures in a 45 day period, and competed had farmer's groups compete in the Farmers Cup Competition in 2023. Guided by Paani Foundation’s chief advisor, Dr. Avinash Pol, we visit the work and see the effects of a watershed-scale groundwater restoration project that has dramatically improved the lives, economy, ecology and stability of this village, and experience the feeling of deep stability that comes with a healthy and abundant landscape.
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[@PaaniFoundation]

Thank you for documenting these stories with so much detail, love and sincerity! We truly appreciate it. The villagers of Pimpri Jalsen have loved this video. :)

[@amillison]

Thank you so much for hosting me in Maharashtra and I look forward to more visits to see the ongoing transformation of the landscape and people. It is truly a profound change that you are facilitating.

[@notashroom]

Thank you for what you do, enabling villagers to save their communities and their productivity. Your work, and the work of all the people who are willing to try something different to protect their lands, is inspirational.

[@malumoteki3021]

😍😍😍👏👏👏❤❤❤

[@sean-or1nc]

@@amillison could CCT have negative impact on the integrity of the hillside? Like are there soil types you don't want to do keyline trenches?

[@gaswhole]

@paanifoundation. please setup a system to alert people to the idea of unintended consequences. Those will need constant groundwork across the geographies you are working in. Even things like the "Miyawaki System" should be looked at critically. The people themselves need to be alert about how the improvements in the ecology seen so far do not segue into unforeseen disasters It would really be the worst thing if after all the effort which has been put in, something as simple as a lack of alertness were to reverse and destroy everything that's been achieved by everyone

[@huttonsvalleypermaculture]

Not only are they reclaiming water, they are reclaiming their lives!! Seeing this really gives you hope for the future that the lives of many can be turned around. Thanks again Andrew!!

[@jordimanchon5153]

Dr. Avinash Pol should win the Nobel Peace prize and/or the Nobel prize in Economics for this amazing work

[@spat2024]

Yes, Dr.Avinash pol deserves it...🎉

[@avinash4871]

also to that teacher Mr. Bhaktraj Garje, who made this happen by his fully dedication. actually he implemented everything and today world see the result.

[@Chen-gl9hm]

He is Indian so less likely !! Get over this slave mentality. If only west approves then only it is good work . These people don't do work to get prize. They do it to help and uplift the people and society. Keep doing .

[@amols101]

@@Chen-gl9hmplease don't find reason to hate even for positive comments. Hope you have a nice day!

[@grantquinones]

They'd rather give it to a 1/2 blck people like Obama. For absolutely nothing.

[@nomadicwolf6132]

Man, California needs a visit from this foundations. That's incredible.

[@Honken]

This teared me up. Following your Paani videos over the years gives me real hope in a grim, grim world. Thank you Andrew; thank you Paani; thank you to all the people working towards making the world a better place.

[@ExperimentalSimplification]

This honestly gives me a lot of hope. Also, watershed village boundaries seems great in the purpose of managing local ressources

[@heirofslytherin3890]

actually every villages in India were designed keeping the drainage pattern and watershed in mind Its just trying to ape the west and blind destruction in the name of development is rendering these villages dry

[@LittleKi1]

What actually struck me from this video is seeing the villagers harvest. I've been working on a farm and the mundane work can get tedious and lonely. Watching them work in groups in a relaxed way is probably how humanity has gotten hard work done fore millennia. (sigh)

[@nsn5564]

Start a support group and get people together online and then see if it can extend to in real life! Don't give up!

[@willbass2869]

I think it depends on scale and ultimate use of the product. Growing, tending and harvesting a single 100 or 500 acre field of cotton, corn or another commodity crop for export would seem kinda disincentivizing because you're "just" doing it for money. However, having even 3 or 4 smaller fields of product for home or village use wouldn't be so alienating. You could still grow an export commodity crop for the essential cash but at a smaller scale or, even better, process the commodity crop by doing even the slightest bit of "value added" enhancement (shell nut crops or press oil seed crops or gin the cotton).

[@sreehariv473]

Whole Punjab should adopt this for recharging their groundwater reserves

[@pond_people]

We have followed your advice, with these things. We have made 3 large bodies of water to catch rainwater and we never run out of water now. Thankyou

[@huehue5286]

Here in Brazil, in the northeast regions in which rains more than most of the semi-arid regions of India, lots of people live in miserable communities because they don't take action like these villages do and wait the govt solve their problems. One farmer did it by himself and had a farm that was the only one in the region with water all year around and people instead o copying his example just got jealous and ostracized the guy. It's nice to see how the mentality in India is different, I can see they have a great chance of improving.

[@RareEarthSeries]

You make such great videos

[@amillison]

Thanks! I just checked out your channel. Amazing work!

[@melissasueferrin3409]

Nice! thank you so much for producing the videos so people around the world can benefit.

[@ronniemcmaster8657]

I wish we could be doing this to the high deserts in the US. We could be growing so much more food, permaculturally. Thank you for another great, motivating video.

[@itsjustmetomc4848]

This is definitely and amazing video! We should be practicing the same principals here in the Arizona desert!

[@martingardens]

It was practiced in your state... in the Great Depression. kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z3qQdqdqe9N4rKM

[@kajalsingh9554]

Finally, new episodes. With just the Water Cup Competition, this village has replenished the water table, expanded their crops and growing season, reversed city migration, and most likely reduced if not eliminated malnutrition. Amazing.

[@DD-ok2pt]

This is truly phenomenal! What is CRAZY is that they ultimately turned around their environment and their access to prosperity in just 5 years. The key: WORKING TOGETHER!!! Can't wait for more episodes!!!

[@johnbanach3875]

These promise to be great, inspiring, and uplifting stories. I hope Andrew will also share in one episode the obstacles many villagers have to deal with in India. He's alluded to the fact that he found some huge difficulties there as well.

[@suganth72]

the important this no gvt or politicians cared to help these people (may be that is why they became successful..hope no politician spoils it)

[@gouravdutta8009]

Bravo 👏 whenever I went to maharashtra in summer, it's not even in my wildest dreams to see this much greenery

[@Kathakathan11]

Which part of MH ?

[@MartinaSchoppe]

These Videos about India's Water Revolution should run in Prime Time TV EVERYWHERE! Everything about the videos is awesome. The Water cup and the Farmers Cup are "Competitions" but every single participant is a winner, because all their lives get better. And that by working together, not against each other - on a big scale. There is sooooo much that farmers around the world should learn and implement. And the speed at which the changes are apparent is just breathtaking. I watched a documentary about water problems around the world just recently - they where nicely documenting all the problems but almost no solutions where mentioned...

[@marlan5470]

This is where anyone of any age, anywhere, needs to disregard the doom brigade and support more of the Practical initiatives like the ones in India, and help make them a reality in the distressed areas of their own countries. Southern Europe is turning into desert because of poor land management. It has lasted a couple of thousand years since the implementation of the Roman Empire mono-crop farming, but another 50 years with current tech and it's dead.

[@MartinaSchoppe]

@@marlan5470 YES! I shared it on FB for that reason. I also shared the link on several videos of "water" documentaries like the ones I mentioned above. Those are YT-Channels of TV stations - so hopefully they take notice and check those projects out and get inspired to make documentaries about them for TV! Those and other "permacultur-y" projects need to get into the public. FAST!

[@spat2024]

This all happened because of educating farmers all about there problems and how they face these problems unitedly ...thanks to paani foundation and great Dr.poL for their dedication ❤

[@cyrusp100]

Thanks so much Andrew for this series and for showing the great news coming from my country India. Your head wobbles are starting to look very natural and Indian :)

[@zaqs1970]

the most important thing about Paani Foundation is that whatever they do, they do with EXTENSIVE research about that particular topic. and consults the BEST in that field. when Satyajeet Bhatkal was wandering around these drought prone areas of Maharashtra he came to know about the work of Dr. Avinash Pol and his friends at ajinkya tara fort, and how they do the SHRAMDAAN (voluntary labour), they loved the idea and implemented it in water cup. NOW when they are running farmers cup they did the same EXTENSIVE research and came to know about Sahyadri Farms where many farmers came together and formed the company. Paani Foundation implemented that idea and now they are giving training to farmers and convince them to come together and do the farming, if the farmers comes together there are multiple benefits.

[@cholst1]

Finally! Been waiting for the new series! Most important show on earth! This project is also the perfect example of how if you want something like this to succeed on a large scale. It has to be somewhat bottom up, where the people who work the land are the "stakeholders". Not some giant corporation coming in, planting a ton of trees and leaving again.

[@Tugedhel]

Thank you Professor Millison for gathering and disseminating this information. This is probably the most epic example of "slow, spread & sink" of this generation. People learn in bites and it is best if it is wrapped in a word picture or visual. Your presentation of this is all of that. Someone said Pol should be put up for a Nobel prize... can you throw his name in the hat?

[@claytonleal7947]

Love this, cant wait for the next one

[@curiouscatlabincgetsworrie7755]

Heart warming! And "competition" ... even participants far from the top were essentially winners, so ... :D What can we do to spread this?

[@zaqs1970]

share the video

[@damian9070]

There really isn’t a similar large scale project to this, it solves all issues at once; equality, growth, economy, climate change. Once these areas grow a lot, you could do offgrid solar arrays with underground battery storages to keep them at constant temperature. Lots of potential

[@amillison]

In future videos I will show you another project at a similar scale

[@markus_selloi]

The people in Africa are doing incredible work, just because one doesn't hear about it doesn't mean it doesn't happen :)

[@MahiMahi-yu5jo]

​@@markus_selloiGlad to hear that too. Would love to know the name Or areas where the projects are done

[@NoirMorter]

The closest I can come up with are the individual towns in Africa trying to reclaim the Sarah. But even those are nothing compared to this.

[@TheKansen]

Great video! I wish you had taken a full shot of the huge banyan tree you were sitting under. Many villages have these huge banyan trees in the center of the village. They serve as the gathering / meeting place for the village.

[@amillison]

Video number 3 we have awesome footage of the second largest banyan tree in India in the village of Pemgiri. Stay tuned!

[@pongop]

Great video! India is amazing! It's beautiful to see the progress. What an example and inspiration for the rest of the world!

[@willbass2869]

Do NOT travel there as a western woman, single or small group. Take an armed guard. India has REALLY serious problems surrounding women, their next door neighbor is even worse

[@mountaingardening]

So cool to see what India is doing to retain water. What a great idea to do a competition. Excited to see the rest of the series! Thank you!

[@obviousbuthidden]

Water is the Transparent Gold

[@C-Hirsuta]

I want to see this kind of large scale project happen in America

[@2Sugarbears]

This is so uplifting, thank you for this.

[@ooooneeee]

This is truly the avantgarde. Every country can learn from this, adapt the knowledge and harvest rainwater like this. Bottoms up, farmers working with the best scientists. This warms my cold, cynical heart.

[@johnsmiff8328]

Let's GO!!! Nothing more exciting than responsible water management

[@nsn5564]

Loved this comment!

[@kathleenmead9259]

love and peace to you all

[@PlantGuild]

What an awesome project. Actually, at this point it’s not even a project, but an ecosystem lifestyle. Very cool!

[@trinsit]

How do we do this here in America?! I'm in Texas. What are we doing here? This is all I want to do! 😭

[@devdeuce93]

There's a youtuber named Shaun Overton I DUSTUPS ranch doing this type of work in a remote area of Texas. Look him up if you have time. His last video included volunteers

[@rohitsarfare630]

This is one of d best thing happened in india especially Maharashtra. Great example 👌 Hats off Paani foundation n team 🙏🙏🙏

[@borystsolin]

This is just incredible, this community just lives in the future.

[@CaptainManic2010]

I love your work so much. It delivers so much Hope. I can imagine a world filled with food and water security.....drought proof lands....self sustainability in general. Thank you very much.

[@vinaychittora]

Finally. I have been waiting for this series since a long time. Thank you. Lots of love!

[@grantquinones]

Let's get a toilet competition

[@Maymay_chor69]

@@grantquinones man it's going on .. according to a recent servey 95% household have acess to toilet

[@NirrumTheMad]

good, a step toward optimizing humanity

[@kaustabg]

Amazing Andrew and team- what a beautiful video, so much hope and belief :) God bless you. Waiting to see more!

[@Minder666]

This is so amazing to see!

[@angel21991]

Just love how a landscape can transform when water finds its way into the soil and recharges the ground water ! Something wonderful about this is how the nutrition profile of the local community would have improved as a result of this. The miyawaki forest was just a treat to watch ! It would be amazing if such small Miyawaki forests would be planted at the base of the hills as the water makes its way into the valley ! Given the terrain wooded grassland might be the appropriate foothill ecosystem . Thank you Andrew for this update. Cant wait for the upcoming videos ! :)

[@aleenaprasannan2146]

I have gone for some trekking in some forests areas in this terrain, and I think you are right. The foothills were wooded and the slopes were covered in grass and it becomes wooded again once you reach the top. I'm guessing the grasses at the foot hill probably was a casuality of overgrazing. If you are interested in Miyawaki forests in India, check out the channel Crowd Foresting. They build miyawaki forests in urban areas in Southern part of India.

[@TheEmbrio]

Those dense forest sure seem like they would be great silt qnd sediment traps, slowing water flows in exceptional events. Windbreaks too, and a "circle" of biodiversity and nature around ’useful’ land. Deep hedges could be a similar pattern, they are great ecological corridors.

[@The.FishHead]

Good stuff

[@michaelsantaii2404]

oh my god i needed this

[@Adv_Swapnil_Kolhe]

Then, we invite you to our village Pemgiri in Maharshtra, India.

[@michaelsantaii2404]

@@Adv_Swapnil_Kolhe i am more than grateful brother

[@nishant4262]

I appreciate your work Andrew!😊 Note: 1 crore = 10 million 1 Lakh = 100,000

[@deepakusingh]

Imagine if each village of India replicate this success what would be outcome? India can feed whole world twice in a day.

[@DJG19870]

Amazing! Can’t wait to see this in Africa 🌱 I wish people would plant more indigenous fruit trees as well.

[@CplusO2]

So inspiring, thank you to everyone involved in this project and in showing it to us.

[@si_vis_amari_ama]

Wonderful, thank you Andrew. I would love to hear a few brief (translated) stories from the men, women and children about how their lives have been impacted.

[@amillison]

Check the Paani Foundation's youtube channel for lots of videos like that

[@JasonEntine]

Amazing!!! Thank you for this series.

[@b_uppy]

Absolutely beautiful, and heartening. Would like to see trees to protect and shade the swales/trenches.

[@lornedauterman]

Loves these videos. Glad they are back.

[@barnabyvonrudal1]

Great diagrams! They really help to understand the water features and how they work together.

[@adam91jr]

EPIC

[@Tugedhel]

I've been watching these since the Paani videos first hit KZbin. I agree with Jori Manchon... Dr. Avanash Pol should be put up for a Nobel prize. He really thought about the big picture when he went to Aamir Khan, Kiran Rao and the team behind the Satyamev Jayate show. I don't remember how it was spoken about over the years but I believe he went to Khan and Khan said, "lets do it." Pol understands leadership and what it takes to get hopeless people working together. It took a really big trusted name to make a really big deal about a sure thing... making their lives better by working together in the sun long and hard for a little bit each year (OK... working A LOT). How do you change the world... one heart at a time. How do those hearts change the world, by banding together and getting stuff done. :-)

[@earthnhand]

This video brought tears of joy. More water! Thank you!

[@amillison]

So glad! Thank you for watching. :)

[@kattsragz320]

Great work

[@jonschaffer4410]

Thanks for sharing always like the update videos!!

[@prathameshdharme975]

This is a well done video the host wasn't looking down on the village guys like most documentary guys do . This is an example of good documentary unlike mainstream media just criticising indian government and india for everything under the roof

[@towardsai832]

Why can't they criticize the government?. The Govt didn't play any role here while it should.

[@bonjovi1354]

​@@towardsai832it's actually difficult because govt is nothing but people and people r corrupted .. it's like banning cigrate. And alcohol .. but that can't b done ..

[@bytheway4819]

Government didn't do anything in this revolution....farmers make it up on their own

[@prathameshdharme975]

@@towardsai832 I am not against criticism, what I hate is spreading false narratives and just criticising someone because you don't like them

[@prathameshdharme975]

@@towardsai832 it's partially true When the gov. Of Maharashtra got to know about this they to got involved I don't know about this particular case but in my local village the gov was pretty damm active

[@vundyalaphanisheakerreddy2055]

SUPER

[@JohnDoe-tx]

Bravo

[@GaiaCarney]

Thank You @amillison 🙏🏾 I am so impressed by the ingenuity and resulting transformations to the land! If only this could happen in Klamath Falls, Oregon . . .

[@stevetaylor2702]

Amazing! How is this life changing knowledge being shared further? Is there an initiative to scale this up to many, many more villages?

[@amillison]

Paani Foundation is hard at work scaling this to thousands of villages and millions of people

[@devdeuce93]

Loved seeing the Miyawaki forest that the village created. That place was thriving

[@ryanw5525]

Amazing work by everyone involved 💚

[@jaxolotle]

Extremely important that we learn from these people. There is always a better way to do things. A way to live more sustainably with our environment, improving the lives of everyone.

[@truthseeker4504]

From recycling kings to water conservation emperors, so inspiring India and yet in the USA water wells in AZ are being drained dry to grow alfalfa for the Saudis 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♂️

[@Chr.U.Cas1622]

👍👌👏 Oh WOW, simply fantastic!

[@vijaykumbhar5148]

Amezing work by Dr Avinash pol sir... Heartily congratulations & best wishes to future work & planing

[@markus_selloi]

I am so happy you released another video

[@marlan5470]

Had I had this kind of information available to me decades ago, I would have a purpose to go to college for. "To get a good paying job" just isn't enough. Well done and best wishes.

[@markus_selloi]

@@marlan5470 thanks alot! It is never too late to start! At least here in Austria studying is free, if you are from the US shit looks a bit different

[@marlan5470]

@@markus_selloi Thanks. I did attend a community college in the US. For my interests, I think it was perfect and I did not need to get a student loan (something I found enslaving).

[@joyona7430]

Thank you. May "G-d in All That IS" continue to bless you and all who work together to bless all humanity through out the world, through all our efforts, to restore and enhance the blessings of our beloved mother earth for the benefit of all. We really are all in this together : )! All of humanity is here on earth to learn to have loving dominion over ourselves and to learn how honor and co-operate and bless our selves and our beloved life giving mother earth. We really are all in this together. ❤ 🙏.

[@benjaminklenner4310]

This is so exciting to see! Thanks Andrew for sharing it with the world

[@kenyon2598]

Ahhh, LOVE IT! Thank you for the updates. This is super inspiring and gives me hope. The solutions are out there, the knowledge is out there and it’s beautiful seeing it happen.

[@XMrPersonX]

these videos bring great hope to me

[@angel21991]

@sugi foundation might be able to fund further Miyawaki forests in this village given the ecosystem function and community function that it serves , it would be a good candidate !

[@datguynilf9793]

Simply astounding! Like many others have said here, this really gives me hope against challenges we face because of climate change! Together, we can fix what we initially destroyed, namely our planet. Thank you Andrew for your educational and inspiring videos! They really make a difference 😊

[@emmavik-fredriksson640]

This makes me so happy! What an wonderful, positive movement. And its all because of water management in the proper way.

[@cedriccbass-jp8ky]

Top top video, well done India.

[@carmenortiz5294]

Really glad to see a new episode. Wish I knew how to deal with my very sandy soil, now that we have a severe draught in my area of Minnesota. Native plants that were never affected before are struggling. Still lots of green in much of my wild habitat area and more birds than ever. I really need a pond of some kind for the wild friends. Only watering some of the vegetables.

[@nsn5564]

Definitely consult water management experts like Dr Millison etc. Knowledge is transformative, and you can address many problems previously just accepted as inevitable or insurmountable. Good luck!

[@carmenortiz5294]

@@nsn5564 I have studied quite a bit, but very sandy soil will remain such. That doesn't mean that I don't have 100 year old trees (lost 3 of them last year to straight winds, lots of money) but the rest made it, as well as some of the newer ones, the newest of all will need a miracle. My property used to have a small creek which the city got rid of decades ago. Still trying to figure out how to build a pond there. Dug one before in my old property, but I was only in my 50's at the time.

[@nsn5564]

@@carmenortiz5294 Have you talked to your local city council management?

[@carmenortiz5294]

@@nsn5564 The Mayor and I hate each other, I got him fired from his other job. Long story but I threatened that company with a class action suit, with plenty of evidence and they took my side. That said, when I first moved here, on the day after Christmas, I went to city hall and asked for permission to build a wildlife in my property in the middle of town and they said yes. That was about 20 years ago. He wasn't around yet. You can bet I know a lot more than they do about the environment.

[@differentgenx]

Truly inspirational! A simple solution to improve a myriad of problems - amazing!!!!!!!

[@MartinSlort]

Knowledge is key! 👏 Thanks for sharing!

[@AngeloXification]

I love this so much. I would love to do this as a living.

[@jakob497]

Thank you for sharing this very motivating and inspiring report ❤

[@Skeptic236]

Inspirational...truly amazing what can be achieved working with nature through sustainable practices, rather than against it as factory farming does.

[@permanick]

Thanks so much for this new series. Been patiently waiting for the release. These videos are so crucial to show people what is possible when we focus on the most important tool we have available: Water! Just imagine what would be possible on a global scale if just a fraction of the money used for carbon projects like direct air capture was used to restore water cycles instead...

[@draganastamenkovikj307]

What a change. Amazing project.

[@smitkadu5504]

❤❤❤

[@jonschaffer4410]

Thanks!

[@amillison]

Thanks Jon :-)

[@bryanthegoat9593]

WERE BACKK! the real movement

[@karllivesonearth]

Wow! Great video. Looking forward to the next one!!

[@Darmen_Dust]

I love your dedication toward this project and telling their stories to the world 🌍. thanks 🙏

[@hunterleeflynn]

Fantastic work everyone. Love to see this. I farmed in California for many years and the drought caused so many problems. Love what you all have implemented here.

[@amillison]

Glad you enjoyed it I appreciate the comment. :)

[@Kaczyfunny]

Please continue your beautifull job. I love these videos :-) It gives me hope :-)

[@cymatics.in.]

Fantastic video loved how it has been documented... ❤ Can't wait for the whole series 😊

[@suhaspatil3357]

Great

[@wakilfazal7378]

Thanks Andy so excited to see this season

[@meditationwithjake]

This brings so much hope and joy.